Monique and I drove from Sydney to Adaminaby via Cooma - about 5 hours in the car - about 450kms.

When we hit Cooma it was bucketing down with Rain.

We stopped in at the Adaminaby pub and picked up some supplies and had a beer at the pub. Beautiful spot Adaminaby and allegedly the "Home of the world's largest Trout".

We then drove East the 15kms to arrive at Reynella Station at about 5pm. We wandered into the front room and met Roslyn Rudd and a couple of the other guests from the ride (Sam, Jo and Andy).

Roslyn signed us on, made us sign a number of disclaimers and legal waivers gave us our room key and told us to be back in the dining room for 7pm, so we stowed our gear in our dorm room and wandered about the property for an hour. Interestingly - you can choose not to wear a helmet for the ride, but you must sign a waiver explaining that you release Reynella of all liability. While I had a helmet, I signed the waiver hoping that by the end of the week I'd be confident to go out for a day with an Akubra on instead of a Helmet. Monique, of course - only wore an Akubra for the trip.

That night they put on a nice meal and we sat at a large table with all the other guests - plus a selection of the Reynella staff who would be joining us on the ride :

  • Brendan - A true blue Mountain horse man and the main organizer
  • Iva - an English backpacker and the camp cook
  • Grace - an 18 year old beautiful brunette and talented horse woman (Brendan's horse assistant for the week)
  • Conrad - a 60 something chap who's been loosely affiliated with Reynella for 20 years and helps out here and there. A very funny chap with a dry whit a double bypass and two Ceramic hips.
  • John Rudd - the owner of Reynella and Kevin Rudd's cousin
  • Nat (Brendan's fiancé)

After dinner Ros made a quick speech explaining the rules of the trip . I can summarise them in one sentence:

"Have fun, be relaxed - we don't rush things on this trip ;- it's late starts and fun riding. While the staff will do everything, if you feel like chipping in and lending a hand - we'd appreciate it. Breakfast is from 8-9 am tomorrow" Kind of a nice introduction and really set the scene for the following 6 days.

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